Chapter Thirteen
Reya walked up the stairs and entered the sanctuary of the church they were hiding in. A row of humble pews lined the center of the church leading up to the altar. She made her way to front pew and stood in the middle of the aisle gazing up at Jesus hanging on the cross.
It was late afternoon between services, and Thane was setting up Stewart’s renderings and maps in the cold basement. She was too restless, and she didn’t know why. Well, perhaps that wasn’t true.
Thane was making her restless. She liked the strength and power in his body, the way he smelled. Simple things but she’d missed them. In fact, she missed a lot of things about Earth. The beauty of the land and water. The spray of color when the sun set. The feel of a warm rain on your face. A baby’s belly laugh. Human love.
And then there were things she would never miss. Unspeakable acts of violence against another human being. The soft sobbing of an abused child. The slow death by starvation of so many. Suffering.
Was it all worth it? she silently asked the cast of Jesus. Look at you. Look what they did to you. Was it worth it? Did it make a difference?
Horrible violence continued as it had since Christ died and before. Why was she here, doing this? Why bother?
He didn’t answer.
She took a seat in the front pew and hung her head. Moments later, she knew Orson was behind her.
“Why don’t you want Thane carrying the crystal?” she asked. “He’s supposed to be carrying it, isn’t he? I mean, that’s why his father saved it. For him, right?”
Orson came into view to her left and took a seat beside her. They both stared up at the cross occupying the front fa?ade of the church. “He can’t be trusted to do the right thing.”
“I don’t think you have the right to make that judgment,” she said.
Orson chuckled, knowing she was using his own words on him. “Perhaps.”
“No perhaps,” she said with feeling. “You can’t change the rules when it’s convenient for you.”
Orson looked at her. “This is an extreme case.”
She turned to him then. “Every soul is an extreme case. Isn’t that what you tell me?”
He looked properly chagrined. “Yes, that’s true.”
“Then he should have the choice,” she said.
Orson shook his head. “This is so much bigger than you can imagine.”
It dawned on her that Orson knew a lot more than he was sharing. “Unless you come clean with what the f*ck is going on, I’m handing the crystal over to him.”
Orson didn’t even flinch at her swearing. “You won’t like it.”
She gave a short laugh. “Do I ever?”
“No,” he concurred. “We believe we may know why Surt wants the crystal. So he can control the grid.”
That didn’t make any sense, at least not based on what she knew. Although she was beginning to think she knew squat.
“He can’t take over the grid, no matter how hard he tries,” she said. “It only works with light.”
Orson was silent, and Reya gave him a what-the-hell look. Had everything she’d learned been a lie? And could the one person she trusted be the best liar of all?
He finally said, “It might be possible for him to do damage to the grid.”
She gritted her teeth. “What kind of damage?”
Orson shook his head. “It’s an impossibly long shot. He’d have to break the grid, and then refire it.”
“No one can break this grid,” she said. “Right?”
He winced a little.
“Right?” she asked more forcibly. Because if it could be broken, Surt would the one person who could figure out how to do it and make it happen. And then her salvation along with billions of others would be over on this planet.
Orson said, “When we put it in place, when we rebuilt the structure, we thought it was unbreakable. But it’s grown weaker here, in this spot, since fear gripped this city. It might get worse if things don’t change.”
Anger filled her from head to toe. “Was this the cosmic plan, Orson? Earth finally gets on the verge of enlightenment, then the grid breaks, the collective consciousness falters, and Earth goes back into the Dark Ages? Was that the plan all along?”
Orson placed his hand on hers. It was the first time he’d ever touched her. His touch was light and cool. “I don’t know. If it is—”
She pulled her hand away and stood up, fury flooding over her. How dare he lie to her? How dare he do this to her? After all the pain she’d suffered to get this far? Enough was enough. “Are you telling me that we’ll all start over? I’m not doing that, Orson.”
“There are other planets like Earth—”
“But they aren’t Earth,” she snapped. “This planet is special. The people who’ve relived this world thousands of times are special. If this world goes under, I swear I’ll join the dark side for good. At least there, I know everyone’s lying to me.”
He held up both his hands. “I don’t have all the answers.”
“Then find out, because if that’s the case, we may as well roll over now and let Surt have his way. But I’ll be damned if I drag innocent people down with me so you guys can play this planet and all its souls like a game.”
She turned on her heel and headed back down to the basement.
* * *
Reya was in a hell of a mood, and Thane was a smart man. He gave her plenty of distance. Although there wasn’t a lot of distance to keep. He was getting a little stir-crazy hiding out in the basement. Not to mention the woman he shouldn’t touch.
Well, he could try. But he wasn’t sure how far he’d get. There was something about the way she looked at him. She was interested, but there was sadness in her eyes at the same time. As if she’d seen passion come and go, and was over it somehow. Like she knew how it would end.
He, for one, preferred to give it a try and find out for certain.
They sat across from each other at a table in the basement with the line renderings from the symbols Stewart had printed out, a pile of world atlases Reya had taken from a local library, and a laptop they borrowed from the priest.
“Do you think your mother would know where these maps lead to or what area they cover?” Reya asked, tapping away at keys.
“I doubt it. I think she’s given us everything she has, or at least remembers.”
He turned another page of an atlas and tried to line one of the maps up to Hawaii. “It would really help if these were to scale.”
“And if we knew what the scale was,” she added. “And if we knew where in the world to start. I’m not finding anything.” She leaned back and rubbed her eyes. “We need one more clue, just one, to crack this.”
“What about Orson?” Thane offered. “Sooner or later, he has to come up with something useful.”
“Don’t count on it,” she said flatly.
Thane looked up from the map to find her frowning. “What is it?”
She shook her head. “I get the feeling this is some kind of test.”
Now that would really piss him off. “For who?”
“You? Me? Humanity? Who knows.” She stood up, walked away, and stretched her long body. He appreciated the view. She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I need to get out of here for a while.”
And he needed to stop looking at a body he wasn’t going to get. “Go,” he said. “I’m safe here. You have the crystal. What could possibly go wrong?”
She hesitated a second. “What are you going to do?”
“You’re looking at it,” he said. He was only on his first atlas. “Take a walk. Redeem someone. Kill off a fourth dimensional demon. Have fun.”
She smiled for the first time today. “You sure know how to turn a girl on.”
If it were that simple. Then she gave a wave and headed for the stairs. “Be back with dinner in an hour.”
Thane watched her until she disappeared out of sight. It was going to be another long, sleepless night. He had played it out many times in his mind, how things would go with them. Pretty much it came down to sex and that was all, because their worlds were not destined to intersect for long.
Not that there was anything wrong with sex.
He worked with Hawaii for a while, but there was no match to Stewart’s renderings, even if he rescaled the maps in his head. This was not going to work. They needed computers that could dynamically resize and fit the maps. He might just know someone who could help them.
Even if they found where the maps fit, then what? It was a like a game of chess and you were one piece of it. You just didn’t know which piece. He stood up and rolled his shoulders. He should have gone with Reya. The fresh air would help to clear his head.
He folded up the printouts and tucked them in his pocket before walking up the stairs to the front door. Afternoon sun blinded him as he stepped through the door into the street. His body clock was way off. It took his eyes a moment to adjust. That’s when he saw Reya walking toward him. “Short walk.”
She shrugged. “I figured you needed to get out, too. Care to join me?”
He eyed her. There was something not right with her. She looked different and not in the way a walk in the sunshine would cause. Her color was wrong or something. “What about Surt?”
“You have me to protect you,” she said with a smug smile.
He accepted that she could, although he’d certainly do his part. Still, the longer he looked at her, the more he knew Reya wasn’t herself. Had Surt gotten to her? Changed her somehow? That worried him.
Reya turned and headed across the street. There was only one way to find out what was off. He caught up with her. “Where to?”
“Central Park,” she said.
A good place to walk. “Hawaii didn’t match.”
“That’s too bad,” she said. “What other ones have you excluded?”
He eyed her. He’d told that before she left. “All the other U.S. states. Just high-level only though.”
They walked in silence for ten minutes, crossing busy intersections before entering Central Park through the north entrance. A few minutes in, Reya stepped off the pathway and cut through the woods.
“Where are you going?” he asked her.
“A nice spot I found near Harlem Meer,” she replied and batted her eyes at him. “Very romantic.”
And that clinched it. Reya was so sexy she didn’t need to play sexy. This wasn’t Reya and if it wasn’t her, then who was it?
Thane glanced around him. No one knew where he was, but it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. The maps were getting them nowhere. He stepped into the woods to follow her through trees and over rocks. He immediately regretted it. Each step became like a dream he was being sucked into. The woods were changing. He should stop, turn back, but it was too late. Something was pulling him forward. He noticed the whispers seconds later, descending around him like a blanket. Reya was just ahead of him, unfazed.
The voices became clearer and understandable. Come with us. Join us. We can help you. We can save you. You will have all the power you dream of.
He felt light-headed and detached from his surroundings as the voices flowed through him. Daylight startled him and he realized he had stopped in a small clearing. The lake was nowhere in sight.
Reya was right in front of him, looking all wrong. Her color, her shape, were someone else. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
He could barely speak over the voices. “Who are you?”
She stepped closer to him and put her palm on his cheek. “It’s just me and you. We’re alone. We’re safe.”
He didn’t feel safe. Alarms were ringing in his head. He looked around and saw nothing but trees. Then Reya leaned in and kissed him, grounding him. Reya. He hesitated only a moment before kissing her back. He wrapped his arms around her. Instead of the warmth he expected, she felt cold, like the concrete floor of the church. Her lips were cold, too.
Thane broke off the kiss and stepped away from her, feeling like he’d been drugged. The trees swayed. The ground rolled. “What’s happening?”
Reya smiled, but it wasn’t her smile. “You’re adjusting.”
He watched her features change, waver, and morph. Everything around him was growing darker. The whispers rose up like a chorus. “Adjusting to what?”
“To my world,” she said. Her hair had turned blond. Her face grew longer and thinner. Her body more petite. Until there was no more of Reya left.
She was Darcy.
“Son of a bitch,” he said and turned the way he’d come. He crashed through the trees and stumbled over the low scrub. His sense of balance and direction were skewed. His vision betrayed him as trees turned to shadowy figures. Leaves became demons. Branches clawed at his arms.
Then he fell to the grass and rolled over on his back. Dark clouds spun overhead, and he realized he was back in the clearing again. Darkness settled over him, turning everything black and shadowy. His body was so heavy, he couldn’t even lift his head.
“Reya,” he rasped.
* * *
She shouldn’t have left him alone, she knew it. Reya dove into the darkness, slashing demons out of her path with her staff fully activated. It was slow going, the heaviness of negativity weighing her down. She wasn’t used to the density; it had been a long time. Still, she could feel the crystal’s power in her pocket and the way it cut through the inky shroud. A faint light appeared ahead, and she raced toward it, slaying the bodies and arms trying to grab at her.
She found Thane lying on the ground semiconscious in a dark green light.
“You’re too late. He’s mine now,” Darcy said, appearing before her in the fourth dimensional realm.
Reya held her staff with both hands across her body. She could feel the dark ones crowding around them in a tight circle. They promised her power and wealth, but she knew it was all lies. This wasn’t her first rodeo on the dark side.
“Wrong,” she told Darcy. “He called my name, I heard him. You can’t keep him here against his will.”
“He’s a third dimensional being. He can’t go back now. He won’t survive,” she said, smiling in victory.
Reya didn’t flinch. If she did, Darcy would know she was right. But Reya would be damned if she left him here for Darcy and Surt to devour. “I’m taking him.”
“You and what army?” Darcy pulled out her own staff, facing off against Reya. “Look around you. You aren’t leaving either.”
Darkness pressed against her back, and their little circle was getting smaller by the second. The odds were bad, but she’d fought this battle before and escaped. Granted it had almost destroyed her soul, and she hadn’t been trying to drag someone else back with her. She might be invincible in the third dimensional world, but she wasn’t in this one.
Darcy swung her staff suddenly, launching a bolt of pure energy that narrowly missed Reya’s head. She leapt to Darcy’s right side and backhanded her head with the staff. Darcy stumbled forward before regaining her footing and flinging another charge at Reya’s legs. It sizzled through the dark ones surrounding them, creating a narrow path. At the end was a dot of light.
Reya had found her way out.
Thane groaned in agony and opened his eyes for a brief moment.
“Are you okay?” she yelled to him.
He didn’t answer. He just shook his head. Then he rolled to his side and grimaced in the pain of a human body in the fourth dimension. His body hadn’t had the right preparations; it wouldn’t last much longer. If it died, his soul would survive, but he’d be trapped here. But he could die if she brought him back to the third dimension, too.
She should probably give him a choice, but there just wasn’t time. Besides, his mind was compromised.
She dodged another energy bolt from Darcy’s staff and rolled to the right. Darcy leapt and landed between them, blocking Thane from sight. “He’s mine.”
Over my dead body, Reya thought. Or soul, whichever came first.
She spun the staff in her hands. It glowed white and released waves of light that backed the encroachers up, giving her more room to work. The crystal hummed in her pocket, coming to life. Darcy wasn’t impressed though and hurled herself at Reya, staff ready to jab into her gut.
Reya gripped her own staff in the center with one hand and jammed it into the ground. It flashed a blinding white light that knocked Darcy clear over the top of Thane and back on her ass.
The crowd around them was summarily leveled by a massive shockwave.
In that moment, Reya ran to Thane, who was just getting to his feet. She deactivated her staff and clipped it to her belt, pulled the crystal out of her pocket, and held it in her hand. When she turned around Darcy was standing, her face twisted in anger. Her body bloated up, showing her true grotesque form. Damn. Reya thought she’d be down longer.
Reya turned to face Darcy and pulled Thane’s arm around her shoulders. He leaned on her heavily.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go of me,” she told him.
He groaned and held on tight, despite the forces that ravaged his body. She knew he probably had mere minutes left, and all Reya could do was pray her plan worked. If not, they’d both be here for all eternity.
“Mine!” Darcy yelled and flung a mass of electricity at Reya.
Reya lifted the crystal to deflect the charge. It formed a cushion of protection that bowed before bouncing the energy back at Darcy. She screamed as the light plowed through her. Her form inhaled once, and then shattered into millions of particles. Her soul energy exploded. The crystal protected Reya and Thane. Seconds later, Darcy became a cloud of burning embers.
The surviving dark ones were beginning to recover. Powerful waves of residual energy coursed through Reya’s veins, giving her the strength she needed. Reya turned and lifted Thane on her shoulders. Then she headed for the spot of light she’d seen earlier.
He was heavy. The air was like soup. Reya marched forward, using her new-found power while she had it. Bodies flailed at them, crying out for help and for mercy. Some offered up lies to make them stay. Some simply skulked away to lick their wounds.
And Reya carried Thane through them all toward the light. It grew smaller as she approached, but at the last moment, she slipped through it with him.
* * *
Thane was standing on a beach. Sun warmed his bare skin, wet sand was under his feet, seagulls cried overhead, and slow waves rolled up on the shore.
He looked down at his feet. They were small and young. So were his hands. He was a kid again. He felt good—light, carefree, and full of life.
He looked around. Behind him was the summerhouse he and his parents rented every August on the Cape. It was painted pink and white on stilts above the swaying sea grass. A row of other pastel summerhouses stretched out on either side, nestled along the ocean beach.
Happiness settled over him. He always loved coming here. It was one of the few times his father wasn’t working, and they could all be together as a family. He looked forward to this vacation every year.
As he stood there, he noticed a man walking toward him along the beach carrying a fishing pole in one hand and a tackle box in the other. Thane’s heart almost stopped.
It was his father. Just like I remember. He looked young and strong, and gave Thane a big smile as he approached. Thane was swept back into the past, back when things were perfect. He took it, leaving the future behind, clinging to the present with all he was worth.
His father dropped the tackle box in front of Thane. “Ready to learn how to fish?”
“Dad,” he said, overwhelmed with emotion.
His father squinted at him. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, and swallowed. He wasn’t going to ruin this. Wasn’t going to break whatever spell he was under. “I’m great. Let’s fish.”
They walked out into the waves together, side by side. He looked up at his father as cool salt water splashed up his legs. They stopped in about two feet of water. His father showed him how to hold the spinner and how to cast. Thane held on to every moment, every ticking second, with awe and gratitude.
They took turns casting into the waves. Pelicans swooped overhead. He talked to his father about fish and anything else he could think of.
It was the best moment of his entire life, hands down. And then a voice called out to him. He turned back toward the shore and saw his mother waiting. She yelled something, but it didn’t sound like her.
His heart sank when he realized that she sounded like the voices he’d heard around Darcy.
A stab of pain pierced his heart. He turned back to his father, still standing next to him. Despite Thane’s best efforts to stay, he felt the change. His time was short.
“I love you, Dad,” he said, gazing up at his father.
His dad turned and smiled down at him. “I love you, too, son. Always will.”
The sun no longer warmed his shoulders. Thane felt tears burn his boy’s eyes and he fought a battle he knew he’d lose. “I have to go.”
His father swung back and gave the line a mighty cast. “I know. I’ll see you soon.”
The waves ceased, the row of cottages faded, and he stared at his father until he was taken away, too. Then Thane let go and dropped through time. He landed hard, and pain radiated through his body. He gave a loud groan and gripped the surface beneath him, fingers digging into the mattress. Voices screamed in his head. He burned, like his entire body was on fire. Sweat drenched his skin, his muscles twitched and cramped.
No. I don’t want to be here. Take me back.
“It’s going to be okay.” Reya’s voice was soothing.
Reya was here.
His father was there.
A winless tug-of-war rose in his mind, tearing him apart. Then he felt cool water on his face, and the relief it brought.
“Stay strong, Thane. Don’t give up.”
But his father…
More cool water spread across his chest. With every stroke, he felt less pain, and more peace. And the more his father’s memory faded.
Reya’s hand pressed to his chest, sending waves of comfort across his tortured body. “I’m here for you.”
Finally, the pain was bearable. He sank into the mattress and drifted off.